Management Structure

Scout Manager is an Avtec software application that runs on Windows 10 or Windows Server 2019. In Scout each collection of configuration settings for a particular Scout system, including settings for the consoles, screens, and endpoints is known as a project. Scout saves project configuration data in standard database and file formats.

One of the key functions of Scout Manager is allowing the Scout System Administrator to build and manage console screens. Scout Manager's user interface includes three configuration windows that facilitate building screens, testing screens, and setting properties for various user interface tools. The administrator drags graphical components such as Endpoint Pads, Function Pads, Call Queues, Dialer interfaces, Web Browsers, and more onto the screen workspace from Scout Manager's Toolbox. The administrator then sets individual pad properties such as pad color, icon, or pad name using Scout Manager's Properties window.

The Toolbox function includes a section for customized user tools. The Scout System Administrator can configure a custom look for a tool, save it to Scout Manager's Toolbox and use it repeatedly when building additional screens.

For security purposes, Scout uses layers of password protection that apply to Scout Manager login, Scout user access, Outpost™ webpage configuration, and Outpost Plus configuration. Scout offers two types of user name/password authentication for Scout Manager users and Scout Central Distributor users: Internal Security or Windows Active Directory (AD) Security.

• Scout Manager Login – To prevent Scout Manager from unauthorized updates, Scout Manager requires login with a user name and password when the software starts.
• Scout User Access – The Scout System Administrator can create users who have rights to access Scout Manager. Each user can have varying levels of access, as needed: No Access, Read-only Access, or Full Access, and each user's rights can be assigned differently for each portion of Scout Manager that can be modified. User rights enable administrators to deploy Scout Manager configuration changes to select locations without impacting other locations or administrators.
• Scout Central Distributor (SCD) – SCD users, created by an SCD user with User Administration rights, can have access rights in any or all of the web application's user categories: User Administration, Project Deployment, Alarm Acknowledgment, and System Administration. The SCD webpage also enforces an incorrect password limit to mitigate brute force attempts to access the system.
• Outpost™ Webpage Configuration – The webpage password protection feature provides a method of ensuring that only authorized personnel access Outpost's internal webpages to make changes to the configuration. The usernames and passwords assigned apply only to the Outpost where the name and password is created.
• Outpost Plus Configuration – Local/remote connection of the Outpost Plus Configuration Manager (OPCM) to an Outpost Plus device includes a 15-character password ensuring that only authorized personnel that know the password are able to connect the OPCM to the Outpost Plus.

Other components of Scout that support management operations include the following:

• Avtec Audio Bridge – Software component that enables administrators to create a permanent patch between two simplex endpoints
• Avtec Routing Controller – Software component used to enhance Scout's connection into the MOTOTRBO™ Multi-Site Capacity Plus and Capacity Max systems and the GenWatch 3 system to allow up to 100 endpoints to connect
• Avtec Trunking Gateway System – Software component used to maintain registration and routing information for group and unit-to-unit endpoints in a P25 Trunking system
• Avtec Encryption Key Manager – Software component used to create and store encryption keyset data for a Scout system that is communicating with radios that use encrypted communication
• Avtec SIP Proxy – Software component used to facilitate console-to-console communication for intercom functionality across multiple sites without regard to local networks used to support communication between external SIP devices and VPGate endpoints via ScoutLink, and used to support communication between SIP endpoints in Scout and SIP extensions hosted by external PBX systems
• Call Voter – Call arbitrating software used to determine which call goes to the console when multiple receivers get the call
• ScoutLink – Software component that provides a SIP gateway between licensed SIP devices that are external to the Scout system and endpoint devices that are configured in Scout's VPGate.